Techland departs with Chris Avellone following reports of sexual harassment

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Published on June 23, 2020

by Lewis White

published on June 23, 2020

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Chris Avellone sexual harassment Techland Dying Light 2 E3

Dying Light 2 developer Techland has decided to part ways with video game writer Chris Avellone following numerous reports of sexual harassment from peers in the game’s industry.

The long-term games writer, who has created stories for Fallout New Vegas, Prey, KOTOR 2 and the upcoming Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 – was called out on social media for a long-running history of sexual harassment.

As other members of the games industry were beginning to be called out for a long-term running history of sexual harassment, Twitter user Karissa spoke out about Avellone’s behaviour towards her and other members of the games industry.

Karissa revealed that Avellone used company money to get her “blackout drunk” and take her to her room where “he pounced [on me] in front of other guys”. Karissa also says that one of her best friends ended up enduring “over a year of heartache, gaslighting, and emotional abuse at his hands.”

For the lengthy full account from Karissa, please check out her Twitter thread here.

After Karissa’s posts were put online, Indie game developer Kelly Bristol, aka Stabitha, told her story about her time with Avellone saying: “He groped me repeatedly at D*C 2014, by Pulse. Every time you or his GF weren’t looking, his hand was on my ass and he was trying to get me to go to his room. I told him I don’t f*ck my friends’ boyfriends & to stay the f*ck away from me…”

The reports of gross behaviour from Chris Avellone has not gone unnoticed. Polish developer Techland, who partnered with the writer to create Dying Light 2, revealed that they will not be working with Chris Avellone from this point onwards.

“We treat matters of sexual harassment and disrespect with the utmost care, and have no tolerance for such behaviours – it applies to both our employees as well as external consultants, Chris among them. This is why, together with Chris Avellone, we have decided to end our cooperation.”